Monument to honor Rugg, city founder

May 9, 2011

A monument to Samuel Rugg, who founded Decatur 175 years ago, will be unveiled in August as the final act of the city's celebration of that anniversary.
The Samuel Rugg Monument Committee — consisting of Max Miller, Wylie Sirk, and Wes Kuntzman — has announced that the monument to Rugg will be placed near the western end of the Wendell Macklin Memorial Bridge on Monroe St.
"Here, on the high banks of the St. Marys River, Rugg met Thomas Johnson and the two decided on the site of the town to be named in honor of United States naval hero Stephen Decatur," the committee said in making the announcement.
The committee said Rugg was a man with a vision who saw the potential of northeast Indiana. He petitioned the Indiana legislature to form a county out of what was then Allen County. Rugg named the new county in honor of a recent president, John Quincy Adams, and set off in search of a place to establish a town to become the county seat.
"So, Adams County and Decatur were born in 1836," the committee said
Community financial help is being sought to sponsor the Rugg monument. The committee members said sponsoring organizations and individuals will have their names engraved on the side of the monument. The names of organizations will be in one-inch-high letters at a cost of $200 per line, with a maximum of 20 letters per line.
Individual names will be in letters five-eighths of an inch high at a cost of $100 per line, with a maximum of 26 letters.
The number of organizations and individuals is limited and sponsorship is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Forms are available at the Decatur Chamber of Commerce, 125 E. Monroe St., and at this website address: www.decatur175.com
"This will be an enduring memorial to Samuel Rugg and a way for organizations and individuals to express their support for our community," the committee said.